Not long ago a young man came into my meeting one night in Brisbane, Australia. He had known this message for many years but was not now a Christian. The Lord spoke to him on that first occasion and he decided that he would come again the next Sunday night. During the week a text of Scripture ran through his mind: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth."
As he drove his taxicab around Brisbane he could not forget that text of Scripture. No, I had not quoted it. However, the next Sunday night, the first text of Scripture I quoted was, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy. . . ." He believed the Lord was leading him; that the Holy Spirit was actually speaking to his soul. He accepted the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart, and if you came to the city of Brisbane tonight, you would find a converted taxicab driver.
His sister, mother, niece, and a friend accepted the message as a result of his witness. He now has nine people with whom he is studying, and from his taxicab he has given out two thousand pieces of literature. The taxi company for which he works has now told him he should not give out any more literature. He wrote: "I was quite discouraged about that, but they cannot stop me from talking." As he drives around he witnesses for Christ.
A Love for Souls
That young man has something that all of us need—a genuine love for souls. It is a powerful witness for the ministry and a powerful testimony for Christ. When we have this love, it will open up before us tremendous avenues where we will see more than a thousand come in to the church in a day. Unless we have a burden for souls we will never be able to do successful evangelism.
I have been amazed when I have heard men talking about a conference evangelist. One man said to me: "Our conference does not have an evangelist this year." That meant there was not a first-rate evangelistic effort being conducted in that conference because the conference didn't have an evangelist! Could such a thing be? Have we fallen down on the job? Surely no conference can be without an evangelist. Every preacher should be an evangelist of some sort. Television alone cannot satisfy men's souls. There are hundreds and thousands of people who are hungry for the things of God, for some soul satisfaction and for the personal touch. I think we need an evaluation of evangelism.
Bible instructors are needed—both men and women—for the personal touch. We need workers who love to slip into the homes of the people and open the Scriptures and tell the wonderful but simple story of salvation. There is no greater satisfaction than sitting around the table, talking in a heart-to-heart way with men and women about their souls' salvation. I do not believe we have come to the time when we can do all the work from the platform. I am still convinced that the best place is in the home—although a combination of both is necessary.
I cannot give you all the details of the last campaign we conducted in Brisbane, but we had 4,500 people attending the meetings on Sunday. As a result of eight months' work in the City Hall we were able, under the blessing of the Lord, to baptize 230.
Some things we did might be helpful to you. The very first Sunday night we made an announcement concerning a Bible-marking class and stressed that it was going to be for "beginners." That appealed to the people. It is amazing how many people are ignorant of the Bible, and they are fearful of revealing how little they know. And so I stressed that this class was for beginners. Two hundred people came the second Friday night and brought their colored pencils with them, as had been suggested. First of all we marked the subject of conversion; what it means really to give one's heart to God and become a Christian, to have sins forgiven, to have a new heart and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. More than ever I am convinced that we need to bring conversion to the hearts of people before we do anything else. After this we can present the more testing truths.
On the tenth Sunday night of our Brisbane effort the Sabbath question was introduced, and four weeks later I invited all who desired to keep the next Sabbath with me to meet in a central hall in the city (the same hall where the Bible class was conducted). Thus you will see that as the Bible-marking class was coming to its completion, the Sabbath school class at nine-thirty Sabbath morning was beginning. In other words, the Bible-marking class merged smoothly into the Sabbath school class. Our own church members were invited to continue in their own churches, and to our joy we welcomed approximately two hundred men, women, and children to the first Sabbath school and church service.
"Married" to the Church
In these Sabbath morning services I dealt further with the other great themes of Bible truths, knowing I was talking to a group of people most of whom had been converted. These Sabbath morning services continued for another fourteen weeks—until four weeks before the end of the campaign. Realizing that there are sometimes great losses at this point when the evangelist must "divorce" the people from himself and have them "married" to the church, we very carefully shepherded the new converts to the respective churches with personal supervision by the members of the evangelistic team. In these churches we appointed individuals, usually older members, to nurture these babes of the flock. Thus for four weeks before the Sunday night meetings concluded, the new converts were in their new church home.
We put forth a great effort to tie these people into our churches, where they are cared for individually. When we have a love for souls, and our people have a love for souls, then we will know how to care for the new members. I offer this to you tonight as a plan that has already proved successful. Yes, our greatest need is love—genuine heart love—for souls.
Should we not at this General Conference session challenge ourselves and face up to this fact, that our evangelism is not as great as it should be? I have been passing through the United States and the mission fields for weeks and months, and I find nearly everywhere that we need to put forth greater soul-winning efforts. If we are ever going to do the work that God has ordained we should, then we will need to have a revival of evangelistic preaching. We have said this before—Evangelize! Evangelize! But we must now go forward as never before in the most aggressive evangelism in our history. Let us set in motion the greatest wave of soul-saving evangelism we have known in our history. May God help us!
"It is our work today to yield our souls to Christ, that we may be fitted for the time of refreshing.. . . Instead of living in expectation of some special season of excitement, we are wisely to improve present opportunities, doing that which must be done in order that souls may be saved."—Evangelism, p. 702.
